If you were looking forward to Raging Bull II, MGM would like a word. According to Deadline, the movie studio has filed a lawsuit against legendary boxer Jake LaMotta and the producers of the film, claiming breach of contract along with four other counts. They would like production of the film, which has been shooting in Los Angeles, halted, in addition to compensation for punitive and exemplary damages "awarded in an amount sufficient to punish the RB II defendants and to deter those who would commit or knowingly seek to profit from similar actions, now or in the future."
MGM is alleging that the producers of Raging Bull II are "publicly associating" the movie with Martin Scorsese's original 1980 film, and that "is plainly intended to create confusion in the marketplace and to trade off the value." Additionally, they claim that the film will "irreparably tarnish the value of" the original. Considering that Scorsese and Robert De Niro - who starred in the first film - have nothing to do with this sequel, it's quite possible that MGM has a case.
The lawsuit also names LaMotta, who inspired the Raging Bull films, as a defendant, claiming that LaMotta had no right to sell the rights to his sequel book to the production company releasing Raging Bull II without first offering it to MGM. They claim that this comes from a 1976 agreement that LaMotta and his co-author, Peter Savage, made with Chartoff-Winkler Productions which said that MGM is the "successor-in-interest" to any "owner-written sequel."
MGM has requested a three-to-five day jury trial. Can't we all just get along?
[via Deadline]
